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NEWS RELEASE

Bankruptcy Filings Continue to Rise

Contact:

Karen Redmond, 202-502-2600
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June 08, 2009 — Bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2009, were up 33.3 percent over bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2008, according to statistics released today by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. March 2009 bankruptcy filings totaled 1,202,503, compared to the total 901,927 bankruptcy cases filed in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2008. The largest percentage increase occurred in Chapter 11 filings, a 69.1 percent increase over March 2008 Chapter 11 filings.

Related Items

Per Capita Filings 2009 (pdf) (excel)

Table F-2 (filing by month) (pdf) (excel)

Table F (12-month period) (pdf) (excel)

Table F-2 (12-month period) (pdf) (excel)

Table F-2 (3-month period) (pdf) (excel)

A significant decline in bankruptcy filings occurred in October 2006, when many of the provisions of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) took effect. Bankruptcy filings have risen steadily since then and the March 2009 total filings are the highest since BAPCA was implemented.

Business and Non-business Filings
The majority of bankruptcy filings are filings involving predominantly non-business debts. Non-business filings (also called personal or consumer filings) for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2009, totaled 1,153,412, up 32.4 percent from the 871,186 bankruptcies filed in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2008.

Filings involving predominantly business debts also rose. They totaled 49,091, up 59.7 percent from the 30,741 business bankruptcies filed in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2008.

Filings by Chapter
For the 12-month period ending March 31, 2009, filings rose for all bankruptcy chapters.

  • Chapter 7 filings rose 46.3 percent to 819,362, compared to the 560,015 Chapter 7 filings in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2008.
  • Chapter 13 filings rose 10.9 percent to 370,875, from the 334,551 bankruptcies filed in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2008.
  • Chapter 11 filings rose 69.1 percent, to 11,785, compared to the 6,971 Chapter 11 filings in the same time period in 2008.
  • Chapter 12 filings rose 7.0 percent to 367, from the 343 filings for the 12-month period ending March 2008.

For more on bankruptcy and its chapters, visit the Judiciary's web site or go to www.fjc.gov/federal/courts.nsf. Local bankruptcy court rules can be found at www.uscourts.gov/rules/bk-localrules.html. Historic data on bankruptcy filings is available on the Judiciary's website under Bankruptcy Statistics. Additional bankruptcy statistics, including bankruptcies by county, can be found on the Judiciary's PACER system.

 

Business and Non-Business Filings
Years Ended March 31, 2005-2009
Year Total Non-Business Business
2009 1,202,503 1,153,412 49,091
2008 901,927 871,186 30,741
2007 695,575 673,615 21,960
2006 1,794,795 1,759,503 35,292
2005 1,590,975 1,559,023 31,952

Total Bankruptcy Filings by Bankruptcy Chapter
Years Ended March 31, 2005-2009
Chapter
Year 7 11 12 13
2009 819,362 11,785 367 370,875
2008 560,015 6,971 343 334,551
2007 413,294 5,199 372 276,649
2006 1,432,074 6,497 366 355,756
2005 1,141,715 7,115 189 441,838

Quarterly Filings*
PERIOD FILINGS    PERIOD FILINGS    PERIOD FILINGS
MAR. 31, 2009 330,477 JUN. 30, 2004 421,110 SEPT. 30, 1999 323,550
DEC. 31, 2008 301,317 MAR. 31, 2004 407,572 JUN. 30, 1999 345,956
SEPT. 30, 2008 292,291 DEC. 31, 2003 393,348 MAR. 31, 1999 330,784
JUN. 30, 2008 276,510 SEPT. 30, 2003 412,989 DEC. 31, 1998 353,108
MAR. 31, 2008 245,695 JUN. 30, 2003 440,257 SEPT. 30, 1998 361,205
DEC. 31, 2007 226,413 MAR. 31, 2003 412,968 JUN. 30, 1998 373,460
SEPT. 30, 2007 218,909 DEC. 31, 2002 395,129 MAR. 31, 1998 354,118
JUN. 30, 2007 210,449 SEPT. 30, 2002 401,306 DEC. 31, 1997 347,685
MAR. 31, 2007 193,641 JUN. 30, 2002 400,686 SEPT. 30, 1997 353,515
DEC. 31, 2006 177,599 MAR. 31, 2002 379,012 JUN. 30, 1997 367,168
SEPT. 30, 2006 171,146 DEC. 31, 2001 364,921 MAR. 31, 1997 335,073
JUN. 30, 2006 155,833 SEPT. 30, 2001 359,518 DEC. 31, 1996 311,131
MAR. 31, 2006 116,771 JUN. 30, 2001 400,394 SEPT. 30, 1996 303,309
DEC. 31, 2005 667,431 MAR. 31, 2001 366,841 JUN. 30, 1996 297,162
SEPT. 30, 2005 542,002 DEC. 31, 2000 310,169 MAR. 31, 1996 266,149
JUN. 30, 2005 467,333 SEPT. 30, 2000 308,718 DEC. 31, 1995 244,494
MAR. 31, 2005 401,149 JUN. 30, 2000 321,729 SEPT. 30, 1995 233,593
DEC. 31, 2004 371,668 MAR. 31, 2000 312,335 JUN. 30, 1995 235,302
SEPT. 30, 2004 396,438 DEC. 31, 1999 318,634 MAR. 31, 1995 212,626

* Because of ongoing corrections to the bankruptcy database, the quarterly data may not total to the most recent annual figures.

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